Recent plans to pedestrianise main areas of Nottingham’s city centre including Collin Street have got shoppers and motorists talking about what’s safest – and fastest – when it comes to traffic control.
Besides a road network we can all see, the safety of drivers and pedestrians is also influenced by something far less obvious.
Inside Loxley House, on Station Street, is the little-known city council traffic control centre.
A bewildering but vital array of screens and controls, it is in charge of the traffic junction signals and light system across Nottingham.
Part of the centre’s role is to make sure there is no congestion on the roads and traffic is running smoothly – some of which is done at the push of a button.
Working alongside Nottinghamshire county council and Highways England, the centre co-ordinates 700 traffic signal junctions across the county and has access to over 500 cameras which include tram cameras as well.
Steve Hunt, head of traffic and safety, said: “When we do get abnormal situations we can intervene with the signals from the centre and give extra green time, for example, if there are lengthy queues we would use this to reduce traffic.
“When we look at designing systems for junctions, one of the questions we would always ask, is that the right approach? We have different methods of control such as roundabouts and ring roads.”
Video: Steve Hunt, talking about the future of traffic around the Broadmarsh Centre
it is our job to get the information out there so people know about it
Social media is used on a daily basis so any incidents on the roads are tweeted – so road users are aware about traffic conditions.
Mike Hu, Technical Officer, said: “There are accidents today, signals are out but we’re getting them fixed as soon as we can, it is our job to get the information out there so people know about it.”
Where accidents happen – the top 10 most dangerous Notts junctions
- Colwick: Mile End Road and Colwick Loop Road.
- Clifton: Green Land and Clifton Lane.
- Aspley: Nuthall Road/Melbourne Road.
- West Bridgford: Nottingham Night roundabout (on Clifton Boulevard, A52).
- Widmerpool: Melton Road and A46 – 7 serious accidents.
- Wollaton: Crown Island (Western Bld/Wollaton Rd//Middleton Blvd).
- Toton: Bardill’s Island (A52 and Toton Lane).
- Beeston: Middle Street and Station Road.
- Bramcote: Bramcote Island (A52 and Ilkeston Road).
- City: King Edward Street and Huntingdon Street.
The latest information and updates are available on the Travelwise website,where current CCTV images can be viewed from different areas of Nottingham.
The traffic control centre also monitors signals and co-ordinates day-to-day maintenance and problems such as damage from road traffic accidents.
The information about traffic flows and traffic conditions is also used to plan changes to traffic signals to better accommodate traffic and other road users.
More information about the centre or traffic information is available on the city council’s website and the Travelwise website.
